The tech company Meta announced that in April it will close the Messenger website, redirecting messaging to Facebook, clarifying that this will be possible with or without a Facebook account, as it is independent of the social network.

Those interested in messaging will be able to do so from their devices via the mobile app (Android and iOS) and the desktop app (Windows and macOS).

As you may recall, in October of last year, the “disappearance of the Messenger desktop application” was announced, indicating that users could continue conversations on Facebook for desktop.

Now, Meta has set a definitive date for the website’s closure in a post in its Help section. In this regard, it clarifies that users will be redirected to Facebook’s web messaging service to continue communicating with their contacts, “with the same features as in the Messenger service.” Furthermore, it will be possible to continue conversations directly in the smartphone app.

The company emphasized that to restore chat history on any of the platforms, users will need to enter their specific PIN for Messenger backups; that is, “the same one they entered the first time they created a backup in this service.”

M.Pino

Source: proceso.com.mx

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La entrada Messenger will be deactivated in April apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The consequences of Elon Musk’s political games in the United States are evident in the loss of users on its social network X, particularly in Spain, with 36 % fewer subscribers.

Analysts speak of a decline for X in Spain, “registering a 36 percent drop in its active user base so far this year, compared to 2024,” although it remains in fourth place with 12.9 million users, behind Facebook with 33.2 million, Instagram with 32.9 million, and TikTok with 27.7 million users.

These assessments were recently published in an analysis by GfK DAM, the “official digital consumption measurement organization in Spain,” on the occasion of World Social Media Day, which was celebrated on Monday, June 30.

The firm points out that among the reasons for X’s decline in the country are the changes in its structure since the billionaire’s purchase in October 2022, including the name change. Added to this are “the modifications to its algorithm, content policies, features, and subscription structure.” And, finally, the problems unleashed by its foray into US politics.

M.Pino

Source: excelsior.com.mx

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White House press spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday that the president of the country, Donald Trump, will give a place in the room to social media influencers, podcasters, bloggers and representatives of new media.

The official indicated that the new media will have a place in the press room alongside the traditional ones, such as large American newspapers and television networks.

The statement said: “We will open this press room to new media voices that produce informative content and whose media are not represented in these seats. We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, influencers and content creators and urge them to apply for credentials to cover this White House.”

The pressroom will be reorganized to accommodate new media. Currently, it “has 49 seats, all assigned to a specific media outlet.”

M.Pino

Source: swissinfo

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La entrada Influencers and podcasters will have a place in the White House pressroom apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Basic phones have re-emerged thanks to a trend marked by generation Z, young people who seek to disconnect from the countless daily notifications on their smartphones through social networks.

Without a doubt, technology is the pillar of the development of communications. However, those born between the 90s and mid-2000s now seek refuge, tranquility, peace of mind in so-called dumb phones.

These devices are as attractive as a smart digital phone, but only offer the functions of calls and messages.

According to some specialists, they feel saturated by the daily hyperconnectivity that seems to give no respite even at home. Social media notifications are now a kind of addiction, given the search for external approval from followers. Generation Z prefers devices that allow them time to disconnect from this “toxicity”.

In addition, basic phones are practical, cheaper and have a longer battery life. In this sense, simplicity is gaining ground as a virtue amidst so many advances and innovations.

M.Pino

With information from Fayer Wayer

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Extortion through the illicit obtaining of intimate content, whether in photos or videos, from a person has been called sextortion. Although it can happen to anyone, criminals preferentially attack minors and, particularly, on social networks.

Instagram is the main platform for sextortion attacks. The social network has worked on increasingly severe measures to prevent perpetrators from seizing, through deception, photos or videos of children and adolescents with intimate content.

Parent company Meta is aware that criminals are always looking for money and harming human dignity. In this sense, they have made decisions aimed at protecting underage users.

Currently, Meta and Instagram are implementing functions to make it more difficult to access the profiles of minors in conversations. This, together with the restrictions on content shared by teenagers, can help prevent photos and videos from being intercepted by sexual predators.

Instagram, on the other hand, has shown its commitment to prevent sextortion by providing more information about suspicious accounts that seek to follow teenage users.

The platform will analyze the creation date of suspicious accounts with the aim of blocking them or classifying them as spam from vulnerable teenagers. And in the event that the minor initiates an interaction with a suspicious account, Instagram will show information such as geographic location (if they are in another country).

Regarding sensitive content in photos and videos, the social network applies restrictions. Thus, it will no longer be possible to take screenshots or screen recordings when opening ephemeral photos or videos. Globally, a restriction will be implemented on nudes shared via direct messages. Photos or videos will appear distorted or blurred. They can only be opened manually.

M.Pino

Source: elporvenir

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Currently, technological innovations are a strong attraction for children, young people and adults. Spending too many hours surfing the Internet or checking social networks can become a health problem.

Some consequences of technology addiction may be involuntary isolation from the family and social environment, neglect of food and personal hygiene, abandonment of school or professional obligations.

Among the recommendations for all ages, if you suspect a technology addiction, we can list:

• Set a certain number of hours for computer use. In the case of children, this includes cell phones or tablets and video game consoles.
• Promote outdoor activities, with family or friends, every day of the week or at least three to four times a week.
• Promote educational games that are not digital, such as board games, cards, riddles, role-playing games, among others.
• Promote sport among children and young people as an activity that enhances socialization, healthy competition and physical health.
• Promote communication in the family at all times.

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The United Nations (UN) established five basic principles for the fight against disinformation, which are based on an official document of the international organization.

The guidelines proposed by the UN this Monday are: trust and social resilience; independent, free and pluralistic media; transparency and investigation; public empowerment; and positive incentives.

The fight against online disinformation includes a review of the advertising model of social platforms and networks.

“When the integrity of information is in the spotlight, so is democracy, which depends on a shared and fact-based perception of reality,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the press during the presentation of this code of conduct.

The vulnerability of data to the promotion of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) has led the UN to launch this code of behavior as basic guidance in this area. The organization is committed to ensuring that these principles “are applied by the platforms, the media, governments and the United Nations itself.”

The UN has asked member states to refrain from circulating “false information and hate speech, and in particular that they reinforce measures to guarantee the integrity of information during electoral campaigns.”

With respect to technology companies, the exhortation is to prioritize “the integrity of the information, and not a business model to make more money.” At the same time, the UN call to governments focuses on respect for human rights and freedom of expression, as well as the protection of journalists, according to Guterres.

M.Pino

Source: elestimulo

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Facebook, YouTube and Instagram have become platforms that literally catapulted certain people to stardom, granting them the accolade or recognition of “Influencers.” The number of followers they garner and the money that moves around them is such that cybercriminals have focused their sights on them, implementing strategies and deceptions that allow them to obtain their own financial gain. ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, warns that it analyzes the most frequent tactics used by cyberattackers to access money and how influencers can be better protected.

The global influencer marketing market, which in 2022 was valued at $33.2 billion, will continue to grow exponentially. In fact, it is expected that by 2032 it will reach 200 billion dollars. In turn, according to the HubSpot site, there are several categories of influencers depending on the number of followers and depending on this (among other factors) “a nano influencer earns between 10 and 100 USD, a micro between 100 and 500 USD, and a macro between 5000 and 10,000 USD per publication.” These figures served as bait for cybercriminals to begin looking for (and implementing) strategies to obtain financial gain. In practice, they were tempted and motivated to do so.

Social engineering is one of the favorite tools of cyberattackers to harm influencers, who often do not have the resources or knowledge with which companies usually protect themselves.

ESET shares some examples of related scams, thefts and deceptions

The Fake Podcast: Hannah Shaw is popularly known on social media as the “Cat Lady”; His pseudonym is due to the fact that in his videos he teaches people what proper care for newborn cats is. Thanks to his followers (more than one million), he raised significant amounts to help rescue these animals and shelters. Seeing Shaw’s popularity as a source of financial gain and thanks to a social engineering technique, cybercriminals managed to take over his Meta business account.

They did this by pretending to be hosts of a podcast. In advance and to coordinate the details of the interview, the malicious actors invited the victim to a Zoom call. There, they asked Shaw for access to the Facebook Live settings with the excuse of generating income and she agreed, thinking it was a normal part of the process. At that time, the cyber attackers took control of the account as Administrator, leaving the page clean to replace them with fake links that actually directed to sites to generate quick and easy income with advertising.

Ambassadors, but of the scam: The “Finfluencers” are a subgroup of influencers dedicated especially to the finance industry. In their accounts, they provide economic advice, advice and tips to their large number of followers so that they can get rich quickly, invest in stocks or cryptocurrencies and implement financial planning. In this case, cybercriminals (and also using social engineering to achieve their goal), offered a false job opportunity for finfluencers to become ambassadors of a brand and promote the brand’s products.

The truth is that the final objective of the attackers was to obtain the personal and financial information of their victims. With the excuse of needing this data to make payment for the supposed work, what they did once they obtained that information was to empty their bank accounts until they took control of their social networks.

Malware always present: Other influencers have been attacked with malware, either by downloading a malicious file or clicking on an apocryphal link. Thus, cyberattackers can very easily take control of accounts and manage them. They achieve this by publishing content that has nothing to do with what the influencer normally shares, deleting all the content that was available, and even changing the logo and name of the accounts. It is also common for malicious actors to ask for exorbitant sums of money so that the victim can recover their social networks.

Identity theft with suspension included: Another technique that became known through complaints and investigation, specifically on Instagram, consists of cyberattackers duplicating the influencer’s original account and requesting its suspension. To do this, they either acquire a verified account, change the user’s biography and image, and then file a report alleging that the victim is actually impersonating them. Another option is to carry out a “spam attack” against the account, reporting it, either for showing nudity images or violating copyright. When the attacker manages to have the account suspended, he contacts the victim to offer to unlock the account as long as he pays an amount of money for said ransom.

Followers, also in the crosshairs: Identity theft is another of the techniques used in the field of social networks, but in this case the victims are the followers. It is normal for influencers to launch giveaways, which generate a high level of interaction. This is where cybercriminals come into play, creating a duplicate account that pretends to be the original, and from there contacts users informing them that they have been winners of a raffle. The goal is to access the personal and financial information of their victims.

Influencers can protect themselves by taking actions to avoid being another victim of the deceptions of cyberattackers

ESET shares some good practices to keep in mind:

• Be distrustful as a first measure, if a job offer or business possibility seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Do not provide personal or financial information without confirming that there is a real and true possibility on the other side. Good research is your best ally, as is contacting the company to confirm the offer.
• Do not let any person, company or application post on your social networks.
• Use unique, strong, long and secure passwords (with capital letters, special characters and numbers) on all accounts, and change them periodically.
• Pay attention and analyze carefully and carefully before clicking on any link that arrives unexpectedly.
• Lastly and always very important, have a security solution that provides comprehensive protection while consuming fewer resources.

In summary, ESET recommends, for everything mentioned above, that it is necessary to adopt good security practices, pay attention to signs that an offer may be a scam, and inform yourself about the methodologies that cybercriminals use to perpetrate their attacks. As well as listening to Conexión Segura, your podcast with timely verified information to know what is happening in the world of computer security, at: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Q32tisjNy7eCYwUNHphcw.

With information and image provided by ESET Latin America and Comstat Rowland Comprehensive Strategic Communications

(Reference image: ESET Latin America and Comstat Rowland)

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The lack of continuity in the collaboration between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok resulted in the withdrawal of more songs from the social video network. This also applies to songs created by composers hired by the American record label.

At the end of January, UMG and ByteDance had expired to renew the partnership that allowed TikTok users to use songs by artists such as Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny in their videos.

This lack of agreement has now extended to all songs that have been written or co-written by a composer who has signed with Universal Music Group. The social network reported this in a statement posted on Twitter.

From TikTok Communication, they assure that they follow the label’s request to remove all their songs from the platform. In addition, they point out that these actions not only affect the composers and artists they represent, but also impact many artists and composers who have not signed with Universal.

The Chinese company says it is working with UMG to “achieve a fair deal.” Meanwhile, users of your social network can enjoy, discover and share millions of tracks from artists, composers and labels.

The end of the collaboration between the two companies is due, according to Universal Music in January, to the negotiations they held on some “critical” issues for the renewal of the contract. These include appropriate compensation for its artists and composers, protection of human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok users. However, so far, the companies have not reached an agreement.

K. Tovar

Source: FT

(Reference image: Solen Feyissa on Unsplash)

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Threads, the new addition to Meta’s ecosystem of social platforms, already has 130 million monthly active users. This platform stands out for its focus on videos, especially reels.

Reels, which are short vertical-format videos, remain popular on social networks Facebook and Instagram, where they are shared 3.5 billion times a day. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has announced plans to unify referral systems. This will allow people to discover the best content, no matter what format it is in.

Video consumption, both in reels and other formats, increased by more than 25 % compared to the last quarter of 2022. In addition, recommendations for unfollowed account posts have grown, thanks to improvements in algorithm customization.

This year, Instagram will focus on recommending new content, while Facebook will work on unifying video experiences, which should generate even more relevant recommendations.

The WhatsApp messaging app is also performing well. The channels, launched in September, already have 500 million monthly active users.

On the other hand, Threads, the microblogging network linked to Instagram, continues to grow steadily. Since its launch in July last year, it has reached 130 million monthly active users.

K. Tovar

Source: El Mundo

(Reference image: Julio Lopez, Unsplash)

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La entrada Threads already has 130 million users apareció primero en Bitfinance.